It's the middle of summer, so we shouldn't be surprised that Tuesday arrived warm and muggy. It was a great day to take in a $1 movie at Regal's Summer Movie Express. The feature was Ferdinand, and we enjoyed it. The story is about a bull with a big heart who does not want to fight. What we took away from it was the idea of looking out for one another and being true to yourself...just like us!
We thought we might have the theater to ourselves as no one was there when we arrived about 15 minutes early. But soon a large group of younger (and noisier) kids came in! Oh well, we had a good time anyway!
It wasn't even too uncomfortable when we stopped at Veterans Park to have lunch. There was a nice breeze. We enjoyed each other's company!
Following lunch, we were surprised to arrive at the Art Museums and see fire vehicles all around with lights blaring. Christina was on the front lawn and informed us they had to evacuate the building but she wasn't sure why. We hung around a few minutes and then the all-clear was given. We never found out what the problem was.
Christina set us up near the Chinese Porcelain exhibit while she read a story about two Chinese brothers. The custom in long-ago China was for the first born son to be given a long name. When the first-born falls down a well, his younger brother has trouble securing help because he has to keep repeating himself until he can clearly state his brother's name. This causes the older brother to remain in the water for almost too long, but he is revived by his rescuer. This myth might explain why Chinese names are generally shorter now!
After the story, Christina had us look at the artwork on the porcelain, and she pointed out that often only shades of one color were used. Chinese porcelain was imported to Colonial America and was very popular. Eventually the Americans were making copies of the porcelain that were just as beautiful and hard to tell apart from the Chinese versions. They can be compared side by side at the Museums!
In the Education Room, we worked with Christina and Intern Anna to use multiple shades of blue and a little purple to create artwork on paper plates. They also gave us tips for drawing Chinese houses!
We figured out that different shades of color could be blended together to make even more shades.
It's a wonderful experience to work on art with Christina in an environment where we feel free to create whatever we want, and no one is afraid to try!
On Wednesday we made thank you cards for Drew's folks, Andy and Donna, and their friend Melinda, who all chipped in to get us a refrigerator last week.
Inside of this one, all of our friends' faces grace pictures of things we keep in the fridge! So cute!
Wednesday's lunch was grilled cheese sandwiches and side salads. This crew put the sandwiches together.
These guys chopped veggies and assembled beautiful salads. We love that our friends are taking more and more responsibility in preparing our lunches!
Kacie helped whip together a simple cheesecake from a box mix her family gave us a while back.
Liz added filling to the crust before putting it in The Nina to bake.
These two also washed and dried dishes! Double duty Divas!
For those who weren't cooking, it was Choice Time in the gym with lots of room for a variety of fun with balls.
Patti decided we would try water animal poses in yoga today. She led us through them by telling one of her stories. Our guys enjoy the tales she weaves into our practice. Here, Bo and Liz got into "frog" position!
Can you tell Alexis was in "crocodile" position?!
Sam was in phase one of "dolphin" (underwater).
And here, the dolphins came up out of the water! Fun story and a great workout, too!
We ended the day with a game of "Guess The Movie" that uses emojis as clues. Tuesday was World Emoji Day so we talked about how these "picture words" have evolved in usage and popularity over the past few years. Earlier, we used emoji stickers to make fun cards. During the game, everyone got a kick out of this clue which was for the movie we saw yesterday!
On Thursday we went to Eaton to work. We had a busy day and got a lot of work done. What we didn't get, were a lot of pictures!
Kacie removed parts from plastic packages and then neatly stacked them into a big tub. She estimated it was over "206" pieces! Patrick had to unpack parts from boxes and remove a large piece of tape from each one. He also made many trips to the recycle bin to take all those empty boxes.
Bo applied gaskets. He's pretty good with that "sticky" situation. Laura and Drew sorted multiple parts and were very efficient!
We had a big team working on the Power Slide Doors. Meemaw set up her table with Cameron, Kevin, Chris, and Xavier. They are good at putting rather small nuts and bolts into the holes.
Nan worked with Kate and Chloe to apply labels while Sam unpacked box after box of doors. Our Power Slide team assembled about 230 doors today!
Alexis and Liz have the touch it takes to handle hundreds of light bulbs. They got through all of these boxes, unpacking the bulbs and carefully placing them in smaller, padded boxes.
Good thing we were able to use the Arc's 14 passenger bus on Thursday. There is space in the back to store lots of Eaton "stuff" we brought back to work on at AFCC!
Friday was a day of surprises! It was Moon Day, which marks the date 49 years ago that Neil Armstrong and Apollo 11 landed on the moon. We had some educational activities planned, so it was great that Kate's dad could send in several pictures about that historic event! But that wasn't our only surprise. Liz and her mom decided to bring us fresh donuts! What a tasty and unexpected treat. You can tell by our smiles that we were ready to start a great day. Thank you to Kate's dad and Liz's mom for your thoughtfulness. Our families are so good to us!
The donuts were from Emily's Donuts, and they were very good! But we all know what happens after donuts...extra dancing! Here's a clip of us doing a march to Chris's requested song, "When Johnny Comes Marching Home," a perfect song for burning donut calories!
During our discussion about the moon landing, Kevin helped Kate show the pictures to us up close. We could see what the astronauts looked like, as well as close ups of the spacecraft and even footprints on the moon.
Of course we had to have a moon/space themed lunch! We enjoyed turkey and cheese Rocket Wraps, Sun Chips, and Planet Fruit Salad. It was delicious! (We did not eat our mini-Moon Pies since we had donuts today. We'll save them for another time.)
During Choice Time Kacie walked around outside to "warm up" (😮) and discovered a "cute little guy" on the gutter, so she grabbed the camera and got this shot for us all to enjoy! Earlier in the week, she spied a deceased (unfortunately) squirrel in the yard outside our door. She's our nature girl! As for the squirrel, Kacie alerted staff who promptly called on Heike to fetch a shovel. Heike even took care of the removal for us! She's a star! 🌟
Later on Friday the gang set up the prize table for their favorite late day pastime, Bingo! We had gotten several donations of prizes from Kate and also Kevin's mom, so our stash was extensive. That's why our friends came home with extra prizes! 😉
Fun, fun, fun! They do love Bingo!
Finally, here's a partial shot of a poster we made for Coach Teri. She asked us to make a few of these for her upcoming community picnic (along with another event poster we will make next week), and for our efforts, she made a contribution to our bowling pizza fund! Win-win!
We say this a lot, but just like that, another week was done and summer is rolling along! We hear it is going to be rainy and steamy next week. Here's how we'll deal with that!
Tuesday: It's always cool at the bowling center and we look forward to our games and pizza for lunch. After bowling, we will stretch and relax with a yoga session at Studio South. Please wear Arc shirts and comfy pants/shorts (or bring to change into)!
Wednesday: It's been a while since we had a birthday in the house and today it's our awesome custodian Mr. Howard's! We will make cards to show our appreciation for all he does for us, and we've invited him for a lunch of bbq sandwiches (and fixings), courtesy of Lexi's Nan and Gdad! We'll also make no bake cookies using ingredients we have on hand. We'll put a candle in Mr. Howard's! And, it's Yoga w/ Patti, so dress to stretch!
Thursday: Today we will learn about aviation, focusing on Amelia Earhart (whose "day" was yesterday). We also have Eaton projects to complete at AFCC, so we will work on that, too. Lunch on your own.
Friday: We love to dance so we will celebrate National Dance Day (which is on Saturday)! We'll learn new moves and maybe even make up our own...which we do every day already! 🤣 We will also paint more rocks today. Lunch on your own.
Before we go...
🍽 🍽🍽
Special request: Our supply of cups (9 oz size) and paper (or Styrofoam) plates and bowls is dwindling. We would welcome any donations. Thank you!
The golf tournament is only 2 weeks away! We're thrilled that several of our AoA families are either playing or sponsoring! Thank you sooooo much!
We should have more information in next week's blog, but this is what we tentatively expect to need in the way of associate volunteers:
2-3 from 7:45-11:00 a.m. to help with registration and also go on the course (possibly to help with the flags at each hole)
2-3 at 8:45 to help on the course until 11:00
2-3 at 11:00 to relieve the earlier crews
We can accommodate more if they can make it! Please let Lisa know if your associate will be able to volunteer. We would need a caregiver to bring them to Kingsmill and remain with them during the shift. Lisa, Carol, and Nan will also be there.
Here's the tourney info one more time:
ALSO:
The 9th Annual Williamsburg Landing 5K for The Arc is on October 6th. We're excited that some of our family members and friends have registered!! All the info you need is at this link and if you want to be on the "official" AoA Team, sign up to run/walk with team "AoA All the Way!" PRICES INCREASE AFTER AUGUST 15!
With much gratitude for your support of the Arc of Abilities,
Lisa, Carol, and Nan
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